


Ignore Your Expectations (They'll All Be Wrong Anyway)

by FlyingFyreFlye



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anxiety, Developing Friendships, Gen, HP: Epilogue Compliant, Hogwarts First Year, Hogwarts House Sorting Ceremony, Nervousness, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 14:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11946453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingFyreFlye/pseuds/FlyingFyreFlye
Summary: What happened after Albus Severus Potter boarded the train for his first year at Hogwarts? Unexpected friendships are formed, and Albus learns that his Father's advice should always be ignored, because it just gets your hopes up and he's probably wrong anyway.





	Ignore Your Expectations (They'll All Be Wrong Anyway)

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been my personal headcanon for years now. I wrote most of it over a year ago, but temporarily forgot about it when I took a break from writing fanfiction. Sorry if it isn't perfectly polished, I wanted to get it up before Albus' official sorting date, which is in like 2 days, because I'm sure my headcanon will be completely disproved when J.K. Rowling reveals Albus, Rose and Scorpius' real houses and I'd like to live in denial for just a few days longer. Also, if I didn't publish this before she reveals the houses then I'd probably never do it, which would be too bad because I'm pretty proud of this story!  
> Just a warning that this story is not Cursed Child-compliant, as I have not read/seen it and do not consider it canon as it was not written by J.K. Rowling.

Albus wasn’t really paying attention as he followed Rose through the train looking for an empty compartment. Of course, they couldn’t sit with James, because he had his own friends and he didn’t want his little brother and cousin dragging him down- James’ words, not his. His big brother also hadn’t been able to help making one last quip about Albus being sorted into Slytherin before he ran off down the train to join his friends.

James’ constant teasing had combined with Albus’ own insecurities, and it was making him feel physically sick.

Rose pulled him into a compartment with their cousins Roxy and Molly, who were a thousand times nicer than James and didn’t mind their first-year cousins sitting with them, even though they were both in their fourth year and James was only a second year.

The door slammed behind them and Rose sat across from their cousins, looking at him expectantly, obviously expecting him to sit next to her. Just as he was about to comply the train lurched into movement and his stomach lurched with it. He made his excuses to Rose and promised he’d be back soon before stumbling out of the compartment and all but running down the corridor to lock himself in the tiny bathroom at the end of the carriage.

He barely got the door locked behind himself before he was dry-heaving into the toilet, almost wishing he’d been able to stomach breakfast earlier that morning so he’d have something other than acidic bile burning its way out of his throat.

When his stomach had stopped trying to force its way out of his body via his mouth, Albus flushed the toilet and moved to sit on the lid with his head in his hands, trying to stop himself from shaking. He could feel tears building up behind his eyelids, but he drew the line at crying about this. James wasn’t there to see him, but Albus refused to give his brother the satisfaction of affecting him so badly, so he scrubbed his eyes with his hands, washed his face in the tiny sink and rinsed the bile out of his mouth.

He looked at himself in the mirror and decided he looked passable—certainly not as though he’d just emptied his stomach into a train toilet at any rate. His hair was in complete disarray, but thanks to his Dad’s genetics there wasn’t anything he could do to fix that, so he took a few deep breaths to steady himself and left the bathroom.

He peeked into the compartment with his cousins and saw they had been joined by Molly’s little sister Lucy. The four of them were laughing and talking to each other, and Albus didn’t think he could deal with that kind of cheer right now. He’d thought he had felt better after talking to his father on the platform, but that relief had been short-lived. He was so scared that he would be sorted into Slytherin, and the real kicker was that he didn’t even know why. Slytherin house didn’t have the same stigma placed on it now as it did when his parents were at school, but James’ comments just hit a little too close to home. 

Albus had grown up in a massive family. In addition to his two siblings, he also had nine cousins, and half a dozen more children of his parents’ friends who were basically cousins as well, even if they weren’t technically related. Basically, Albus had always been pretty introverted, preferring to interact quietly in small groups or sit by himself and read rather than run around outside playing Order of the Phoenix versus Death Eaters with his siblings and louder cousins. As a result, Albus felt he was often overlooked by the rest of his family, and he was worried that if he was sorted into Slytherin, where he knew no one, that the gap separating him and the rest of his family would only grow until they forgot he existed all together. Not to mention, every member of his extended family had been sorted into Gryffindor as far back as anyone could remember, and he knew that everyone was expecting him to continue the tradition. Seeing how much fun the girls were having without him just built on this fear, and he decided it would be for the best if he didn’t ruin their joy with his dark mood. Mind made up, he just walked on past the compartment, his presence going unnoticed by the excited girls, and walked further down the corridor and into the next carriage.

As he walked, he peeked into the compartments he passed and tried not to draw attention to himself as he took in the other children, all of whom seemed excited at the prospect of going to Hogwarts. Eventually, two carriages down from where he started, he walked past a compartment that was almost empty, occupied only by a small blond boy that looked to be about Albus’ age. Albus did a double take as he recognised the boy as being the one his Uncle Ron pointed out on the platform, the son of Draco Malfoy.

Albus didn’t know what made him do it, but he stopped and knocked on the door to Malfoy’s compartment, poking his head in when the other boy looked up.

“Hi,” he said, mustering up a smile. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Malfoy’s brow furrowed in confusion, as though he was wondering why someone would possibly want to share a compartment with him, and that more than anything convinced Albus that stopping at this compartment had been the right decision.

Malfoy didn’t respond to his question, but he also hadn’t said no, so Albus took his silence as an agreement and sat down across from the blond, fidgeting in his seat while Malfoy looked out of the window and ignored his very existence.

For some reason, Albus wanted to talk to this boy. If anyone was going to understand his apprehension at being sorted into the ‘wrong’ house, it would be him. The Malfoys had been sorted into Slytherin for as long as the Potters and Weasleys had been sorted into Gryffindor, and, just like Albus, this Malfoy was the spitting image of his father, so the expectation to follow in his family’s footsteps would be even stronger. Plus, the fact that he was sitting here by himself instead of surrounded by loud friends just made Albus empathise with him even more, so he decided that he was going to try and make friends. It couldn’t hurt to know someone outside of his family when he arrived at Hogwarts anyway.

“Hi, I’m Albus.”

Malfoy moved his gaze from the window and looked at Albus like he was trying to see into his very soul before replying, “Scorpius.”

Albus felt more at ease now that he had a first name to go with the face. For some reason, the dismissive way in which Scorpius spoke with him was a lot easier to handle than the loud, unending cheer of James and his cousins, and Albus found himself wanting to talk more because of it. It was refreshing to know that he wouldn’t be talked over and ignored the moment he opened his mouth.

“Are you excited to be going to Hogwarts?” He asked. “Do you know what house you want to be-”

“What are you doing?”

Scorpius’ interruption took Albus off guard, and he didn’t quite know how to respond.

“What do you mean what am I doing?”

Scorpius looked at him like he was the stupidest person he had ever met.

“Why are you talking to me?”

Albus just stared back dumbly, unsure of what to say.

“What?” he asked eloquently (not at all).

“I know who you are. The only reason I can think that you would have for taking to me right now is to make fun of my family, and I’m telling you right now—I won’t have it.”

Albus really wanted to but-in at that point, but Scorpius was on a roll.

“I don’t care if my family did fight for the wrong side in the war, I love my Dad. He’s a good father, and I won’t sit here and listen to you say horrible things about him.”

Scorpius finished his rant red-faced and panting, and Albus raised his palms outwards in surrender.

“I wasn’t going to say anything about your Dad, I swear!”

When Scorpius continued to look sceptical he continued, “I honestly just wanted to talk about Hogwarts with someone who isn’t either in my family or only taking to me because my Dad’s famous, and I figured you’d be my best option.”

Scorpius’ glare of righteous fury had lessened somewhat, but he still didn’t look entirely convinced, so Albus decided it was all-or-nothing and kept talking.

“I want a friend I’m not related to who won’t immediately judge me because of my last name, and when I saw you sitting here by yourself I thought maybe you could use the same?”

He phrased the last part like a question, hoping to draw Scorpius back into the conversation.

It worked a little better than he had expected.

“If this is a joke Potter, I swear I will hex you into oblivion the second I learn how.”

He couldn’t decide whether or not Scorpius was being serious, so he decided that one more reassurance couldn’t hurt, “I swear it’s not a joke!”

Scorpius squinted at him in distrust for a few moments longer before apparently deciding to take him at his word for the time being and relaxing back into his seat.

“Why bother asking me what house I want to be sorted into?”

Albus wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.

“Um, is that not the kind of thing you ask someone who’s on their way to Hogwarts for the first time?”

Scorpius shook his head and Albus got the strange feeling that he was being laughed at.

“No one has ever asked me that. I’m pretty sure everyone I’ve ever met has assumed that I’ll be sorted into Slytherin like pretty much every member of my family has been since Hogwarts was founded.”

More and more Albus was beginning to realise that the decision to come and speak with Scorpius had been the right one; it seemed that they had a lot more in common than anyone would have expected from the children of such notorious foes as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. If nothing else, he was fairly sure that, no matter what he said to the other boy, Scorpius wouldn’t go running off to tell someone else the gossip the first chance he got.

“I wasn’t going to assume, Scorpius; I know how annoying that is. Everyone expects me to be in Gryffindor like my parents and my brother and pretty much all of my extended family, but I’m terrified that I’ll be sorted somewhere else and my Dad will be disappointed. He said he wouldn’t care what house I’m sorted into, he’d love me just the same, but I’m scared that that’s not true and he’ll treat me differently, even if he doesn’t mean to.”

Instead of trying to reassure him, as he knew any one of his cousins would have, Scorpius just nodded like he understood.

“My Father gave me the exact same talk.”

From the tone of his voice, Scorpius had been about as reassured by his talk with Draco as Albus had been with his Father—which is to say not much.

“Do you actually want to be sorted into Slytherin?” he asked, genuinely curious for the answer.

Scorpius shrugged, “It doesn’t really matter where I end up, everyone in the house is going to hate me regardless.”

If that wasn’t one of the saddest things Albus had ever heard, then he didn’t know what was, and he tried desperately to think of something to say that wouldn’t make the situation worse.

His mind went back to the not-so-effective conversation he had had with his Dad on the platform and decided to see if the pep-talk would work on Scorpius where it had failed for him.

“You know,” he started, “If it helps, my Dad told me that you can actually ask the Sorting Hat to put you where you want to go.”

That certainly peaked Scorpius’ interest.

“Seriously?” he asked, straightening in his seat.

“Seriously,” Albus nodded. “He told me that, when he first went to Hogwarts, the Hat wanted to sort him into Slytherin, but my Uncle Ron had told him all sorts of nasty things about Slytherin house on the train so Dad asked the Hat not to sort him there—and it actually listened!”

“Do you think it would work the other way around?” Asked Scorpius, looking almost excited.

“I don’t see why not!”

“This is great,” enthused Scorpius. “I know there will be people who hate me for my family name wherever I get sorted, but if I’m sorted into Slytherin then at least my family will be happy.”

His heart broke at Scorpius’ certainty that people would hate him. Albus had often seen his extended family as a little bit of a nuisance; they were often loud and constantly sticking their nose in his business or teasing him like James, but at least he knew that he would always have someone at Hogwarts to go to with his problems and he was guaranteed to be greeted by at least one friendly face, no matter what house he was sorted into (except Slytherin, but he didn’t have any plans to end up there anyway, so it didn’t really matter).

Scorpius didn’t have any of that certainty. He had no siblings, and no cousins that Albus knew of, and the Malfoy family’s so called ‘betrayal’ of the Dark Lord during the Battle of Hogwarts meant that the children of the Slytherin’s from Draco’s time at Hogwarts probably wouldn’t be particularly inclined to befriend him either.

Despite his feelings of empathy, he surprised himself when he next spoke, “I’ll be your friend no matter what house you’re sorted into,” he swore.

Scorpius looked taken aback, “Really?”

The more time Albus spent with Scorpius, the more certain he became, so he nodded and grinned, “Really.”

His certainty in the face of a direct question seemed to finally convince Scorpius of his sincerity, because the other boy’s returning grin was positively giddy, and the rest of his reserves seemed to melt away.

They spent the rest of the train ride getting to know each other—serious stories turning into uncontrollable laughter as they fell into an easy banter as though they’d been friends for years, rather than hours.

All of Albus’ earlier nervousness had disappeared, and he barely noticed as the hours passed and they moved ever-closer to the school that would be their second home for the next seven years, which was why he was surprised when the compartment door opened to reveal Rosie, whose face couldn’t seem to decide whether she was relieved or furious.

“What the hell Albus!” She yelled, sounding scarily like his Aunt Hermione. “You said you were going to the bathroom and you never came back! We were so worried about you, you’ve been gone for hours!”

Albus grinned sheepishly, only now noticing that the sun had gone from being high in the sky to disappearing on the horizon.

“Sorry Rosie, I guess I just lost track of time.”

Rose scowled at his excuse, and it seemed as though she was going to keep yelling at him, but as she looked around the compartment her eyes settled on Scorpius and she finally seemed to notice that they weren’t alone. Albus jumped on the chance to divert her attention.

“I really am sorry Rosie, but I’ve been busy making a new friend! This is Scorpius, Scorpius, this is my cousin Rose.”

Scorpius nodded politely, and murmured a quick nice to meet you. His confidence of the past few hours had receded somewhat in the face of a yelling Rose, and Albus couldn’t blame him. Rose might have looked like a Weasley on the outside, but she had just enough of his Aunt Hermione in her that she was absolutely terrifying when she was mad.

It was Rose’s reaction that really shocked him. She was usually quite friendly with new people—she certainly had better manners than he did—but when he introduced Scorpius her face seemed to close down completely and all she did was acknowledge him with a curt nod before turning back to Albus.

“We’ll be arriving at Hogwarts soon Albus, so you need to come back to the compartment and change into your robes.”

Albus frowned at the cold way she had treated his new friend, but he didn’t know what to say, so he nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there in a minute, as soon as I’ve finished talking to Scorpius.”

Rose looked like she wanted to protest, but Albus was confident that she wouldn’t want to make a scene with someone else watching, and he was right.

“Don’t be too long,” she said, and left, pulling the compartment door closed behind her.

When he was sure she was gone, Albus turned to Scorpius and winced when he realised the other boy’s expression had become closed off once more.

“I’m really sorry about Rose,” he said. “She must be nervous about going to school as well, she’s usually a lot friendlier.”

Scorpius scoffed, “Or maybe she’s only nice to people whose family didn’t fight on the wrong side of the war.”

Albus flinched because, while he didn’t want to think that his cousin would make that kind of decision about someone she didn’t know, he also knew that his Uncle Ron despised Draco Malfoy—Albus had been on the receiving end of one of his rants more than once over the years, and he was sure that Rosie had heard even more. Now that he thought about it, Albus remembered his Uncle warning Rose off of being friends with Scorpius when he caught sight of the Malfoy’s on the platform earlier. At the time, Albus had been sure that his Uncle was joking, but he doubted it was the first time he had said something like that to his daughter, and Rose was such a stickler for the rules that she would never deliberately do something that might incur her parents’ disapproval.

Albus didn’t try and explain any of this to Scorpius though. It would take too long, and he was sure that it wouldn’t make the other boy feel any better anyway.

“Well, even if that is what’s wrong, she’ll just have to get over it,” he insisted. “You’re my friend now and we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, so if she wants to spend time with me then she’ll have to get to know you as well.”

He was hoping his speech would make the other boy smile, but all he got was a considering look and an unconvinced “hmmmm.” Albus cursed Rosie for undoing all of the work he had put into getting Scorpius to open up over the past few hours, but he was sure he would have plenty of time over the next seven years to assure Scorpius that he really did want to be his friend.

In the meantime, he really did need to change into his robes before he arrived at Hogwarts, so he stood in preparation to leave the compartment.

Scorpius stood as well—years of etiquette training probably demanded it. Albus felt a swelling of affection for this boy he had only just met and, feeling brave, he leaned over and hugged Scorpius tightly for a few seconds.

When he pulled away Scorpius’ pale cheeks were tinged pink, and Albus could feel a matching blush heating his own face. He grinned sheepishly, “If I don’t see you on the platform then I’ll find you at dinner.”

Scorpius looked a little stunned, but nodded, and Albus took that as his cue to leave, pulling the door closed behind him and running back to his cousins’ compartment to change before the train arrived and he became the only student on the platform still wearing Muggle clothes.

 

* * *

 

 

Albus caught a glimpse of Scorpius’ silver hair amongst the crowd of students milling around on the platform when he alighted from the train, but Rosie tugged him in the direction of the teacher calling for first years and he lost his new friend amongst the crowd.

He caught sight of Scorpius again while they waited in the Entrance Hall to be called in for sorting, but found himself distracted from approaching him by Rose’s excited chatter, and his own nervous excitement as the moment he had been waiting for all year drew ever closer.

They were called into the Great Hall by the Deputy Headmistress, and the queasy feeling he had been squashing since the beginning of the train ride returned with a vengeance. He dug his fingernails into his palms in the hope that the pain would distract him from the sick feeling in his stomach, but it didn’t work particularly well and he spent the first half of the sorting ceremony coming up with increasingly terrifying scenarios for what would happen when his own name was called. He was contemplating the particularly horrible idea that he would be sorted into Slytherin, and the house would refuse to take him, leaving him to be the only student in Hogwarts’ history to be entirely house-less, when he was pulled out of his reverie by the Deputy Headmistress calling for “Malfoy, Scorpius.”

He managed to work up a smile in support of his new friend, but judging by the pained grimace that Scorpius sent him in return, Albus wasn’t the only one feeling queasy at the prospect of being sorted.

It did not help at all that the Great Hall had gone eerily quiet at the utterance of Scorpius’ name, which made boy’s footsteps as he made his way to the Sorting Hat echo unusually loudly on the marble floor.

Scorpius’ face scrunched up when the Hat was placed on his head, and it felt as though the entire hall took a deep breath at the same time as they waited eagerly to see what would happen.

His Uncle Ron had once told him that, at his Dad’s sorting ceremony, the Hat had barely touched Draco Malfoy’s head before declaring him Slytherin, but this clearly wasn’t the case for Scorpius. He had been sitting on the chair for nearly two minutes, and Albus could hear the older students beginning to shift around in their seats, either from boredom or anticipation, he didn’t know.

Scorpius hadn’t opened his eyes since the Hat was placed on his head, but his expression and posture had been growing more and more tense as time passed. Albus could see his hands gripping the stool as though his life depended on it, knuckles standing out stark white against the black of his robes.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Scorpius opened his eyes. It was barely a second before his gaze locked on Albus, and Albus was struck by the sheer terror that that gaze held right at the moment that the Hat called out for all the hall to hear, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

Scorpius’ face lost what little colour it still posessed, and the Great Hall was so silent you could have heard a pin drop.

Albus felt terrible for his friend. He was the one who had gotten Scorpius’ hopes up on the train by telling him that he could choose his own house, and now here he was watching as his new friend climbed unsteadily from the stool and began to make his way to his new house as the only student who hadn’t received a round of applause at his sorting.

Albus’ stomach gurgled uncomfortably at the injustice of it. Scorpius was a good person, and any house would be lucky to have him, but in the handful of seconds since the Sorting Hat had made its announcement, all that the members of Hufflepuff house had done was stare in open-mouthed shock.

Realising that no one else was going to anything—even the staff seemed to be in a state of shock—Albus shook himself out of his own surprise and cheered for his new friend, clapping his hands enthusiastically to go along with it.

Fortunately, that seemed to snap everyone else out of their stupors, and Scorpius received a modest round of applause as he made his way to his new house, no longer looking like he was trying to decide between crying or losing his lunch all over the pristine marble floors of the Great Hall. When Albus turned to watch him sit, he even saw a tiny smile on Scorpius’ face as his hand was shaken warmly by what he assumed to be one of Hufflepuff’s prefects.

He was so focused on what was happening with Scorpius that he almost missed the Headmistresses call of “Potter, Albus.”

Albus’ name had caused the same stir as Scorpius’ had, and the Great Hall was equally as silent as he ascended the steps to the Sorting Hat. He sat on the stool and couldn’t stop himself from tensing up as the Headmistress placed the battered old hat on his head. He jumped when the hat spoke in his head.

_“Interesting, very interesting. You have the Potter courage I see, and patience in the face of ridicule. Unusual in one so young. Quick to adapt to new situations, and a strong determination to prove yourself.”_

At the mention of determination, Albus felt the familiar stab of fear that he would be sorted into Slytherin after all; however, this fear was followed by the unfamiliar thought that, if he were sorted into Slytherin then perhaps some of the attention would be diverted from Scorpius’ unexpected sorting, and that maybe that would not be such a bad thing.

The Sorting Hat picked up on this passing thought and hummed in interest.

_“You show great loyalty to a friend only made today, and open yourself to criticism to spare a friend from harm. You show a great dedication to fairness and tolerance towards all, even to the detriment of your own happiness. No, no, Slytherin would not be a good fit at all. Better make it HUFFLEPUFF!!!”_

His eyes widened in surprise. In all of the daydreams and nightmares he had endured about being sorted, the only houses Albus had ever considered were Gryffindor and Slytherin—Hufflepuff had never even been on his radar. He got over his surprise quickly, figuring it was best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. This way he wouldn’t shame his family by being sorted into Slytherin, and he didn’t have to put up with James’ constant teasing by living with his brother in Gryffindor. Being sorted into Hufflepuff with his new friend was basically the best outcome he could have hoped for. At this realisation, Albus felt the massive weight that had been on his chest ever since he had left the house that morning lift. He felt as though he was walking on clouds as he made his way over to sit with his new friend, and his new house, to the sound of raucous applause from the Hufflepuff table, and a mix of surprised muttering and stunned silence from the other three houses, which he chose to ignore.

He’d have to deal with James soon enough, and write to his parents to tell them the news, but in that moment he settled for hugging his new friend and housemate in celebration, and accepting introductions from the ecstatic-looking prefects of the house that was going to be his second home for the next seven years.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't put it in the story because I like the place it ends in, but I headcanon Rose as being sorted into Gryffindor like her parents, just in case anyone was wondering :)


End file.
